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'This is a fine, fresh and faithful translation, combining both elegance and accuracy to bring us a version of the bible that is anything but standard. The ESV brings us a text that is both readable yet scholarly. It is quite simply the best version we have today - clear, simple and illuminating' MARTYN PERCY, Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon At last a translation that majors on accuracy, combined with a modern, fluent style. I am confident that in time the ESV will become the standard translation for the English-speaking world.' THE RT. REV. WALLACE BENN, Bishop of Lewes, England 'Meticulous care and passionate research make the ESV a crisp, accurate, and valuable translation.' MAX LUCADO, Minister, Oak Hills Church of Christ 'The ESV satisfies the preaching memorizing, studying and reading needs of our church, from children to adults.' JOHN PIPER, Pastor for Preaching and Vision, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota
--This text refers to an alternate
Imitation Leather
edition.

Most helpful customer reviews

I bought this calfskin edition directly from Crossway Books (the publishers of the ESV) however I returned it the same day. This calfskin edition is lacking in so many areas. Let me give you the pros and cons of this edition.PROS - First, The English Standard Version (ESV) is a great translation. It is an essentially literal translation and reads much better in its flow than the NASB while maintaining a literal translation unlike the NIV. Second, this is a calfskin leather Bible that feels great, smells like leather, and is small enough to easily take into the pulpit or in your briefcase.CONS - First is that the words bleed through nearly the entire Bible especially in the gospels where the words of Christ are in red. Second, the paper used for the pages is not top quality Bible paper as in the Cambridge editions. Third, no cross references.I would urge you to wait before buying this Bible until Crossway is able to correct these problems. A Crossway official e-mailed me and said they were a work in progress and that they are hoping to make the ESV a popular and beautiful Bible to buy. I hope so myself. May God be glorified in His Word!

Is the NASB95 - the king of the literal bible translations dead? That must surely be the question on our minds. The answer is, "I'm not sure, but it's having a good run at it!".Firstly my comparison - I compared 50 difficult verses. The NASB95 and ESV were way way out in front of all other versions in accuracy. I gave the NASB95 a couple of extra marks over the ESV, but there's not a lot in it.Secondly, literalness. On a word for word basis the ESV actually seems a little more literal than the NASB95 in that it is much more thorough in translating all the little words, the "ands" and "buts" and so on, as well as allowing sentences to run on where they do in the original. On the other hand, the fact that it is a warmed over RSV shows through in a lot of verses that should ideally be re-worked in NASB style. However, the ESV sometimes seems to try harder in consistantly rendering the same Greek word as the same word in English - but not always, sometimes the NASB is more consistent. Conclusion - The ESV is more literal on the "forest scale", but the NASB is more literal in the "tree scale".However, the NASB appears to be quite a bit more accurate with tenses. Sometimes these verses have important theological significance. e.g. Acts 13:48 NASB "had been appointed", and Mt 18:18 NASB "shall have been bound" are more accurate than the ESV equivilents which are carry overs from the RSV (and KJV).Thirdly, readability. People are talking about the ESV being more readable than the NASB. I don't think there's a lot in it. The ESV has it's fair share of bloopers where the English is strained and the NASB is readable. Sometimes the NASB's lessor readability increases its literalness and correctness. Conclusion: I personally can't see the difference.Read more ›

This is a great copy for pulpit/preaching use. It accompanies similar slimline/thinline copies of the King James Version (KJV) and New International Version (NIV) that I have used in pulpit for some years. The cover is sturdy and will last long. The red-letter sections are just right in colour and the maps and concordance are very useful. If you need a Bible that is for light study or pulpit use, this is a great buy. (I have these different translations due to the requirements of the different churches I pulpit-supply for.)(NOTE: I don't see the "ink bleed" problems mentioned in an older review. I just purchased this, December 2014, so maybe the publishers finally addressed that problem. Of course, it IS "Bible paper" - thin - so there is a slight image of the next page, but it is not distracting.)

It's a pity they don't make an slim-line version that has thumb indexes and/or centre column references. If you want slim-line you've got to give up these two features.They should make one like the NASB version ISBN 1581350279. That would be perfect - thin, cross-references, concordance, thumb-indexed, genuine leather. Will stick with my NASB for the moment. Might get an ESV as well when they come out with such an edition. They should dump the book intros of the Classic edition though. We don't need that nonsense in a regular bible. Save that for the study bible.

I was given the English Standard Version Bible for Christmas 2003 and have been reading it daily throughout this year. I admire it for achieving two important goals in Bible translation which are not often successfully accomplished. First of all, the ESV, since its English wording is derived from the RSV, retains as much of the King James wording in a modern style as is possible. Since that is the style that many of us have memorized and learned since childhood and it is a style that lends itself to memorization, that is a good thing.Secondly, the translating committee has striven for as accurate a translation as possible. They have not opted for "dynamic equivalency", but have attempted to stay as literal as they felt English usage would allow. Now, since I am not a Hebrew or Greek scholar, I cannot attest to their success, but in some verses where I had been told that other translations did not achieve such accuracy, the ESV appears to have done so. And they did it in a way that makes it superior to the NASB, in my opinion. The NASB, in attempting its literalness, unfortunately also achieved an awkwardness of English style that the ESV has marvelously overcome. Thus this Bible is good for reading style and for accuracy of understanding. It is likely to replace my NIV as my standard usage Bible for the future.